Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu, May be peace and blessing of Allah be upon you all.

A very quick note for everybody, Allah says in the Quran ; Afala yatadabbarun alquran? do they not reflect upon the Quran? or are there locks on their hearts? [Surat Muhammad : 24] If we reflect upon verse that tells us to reflect upon the Quran, we may conclud e, that the more we contemplate, meditate and discover and analyse and search fo r the gems in the Quranic verses, the more our heart will become unlock to recei ve the mercy, guidance and divine love. Because brothers and sisters, the Quran is an ocean. And we must do tadabbur, re flection and pondering upon this book as Allah tells us. And the more we ponder, we take an ayat, we take a verse and we find out what is it mean for me? What d oes Allah want me to do concerning this verse? How does it affect my spiritual, social DNA? How am I suppose to act and live and behave? How am I suppose to be? Meaning, what kind of state I should be in? So I want to encourage all Brothers and Sisters and friends, to really engage wi th the Quran from this perspective because the Quran wants to be engaged with. B ecause the Quran was sent down for the whole of humanity and human being are thi nking human being. So Allah, the Divine reality, the Lord of everything that exi st is telling us, engage with His word, His eternal word. And I believe if we en gage with it and ponder upon it, we can really find solutions for all of life bu t particularly our spiritual life and for our moral and ethical life. I want to give an example, I want you to go to Chapter 12 of the Quran. It has b ecome my favourite chapter. But this is the beauty of the Quran, everytime you u nderstand a chapter, that becomes your favourite chapter. So I've done some work concerning the twelve chapter of the Quran. And I find it so fascinating. Even Allah says it the greatest story. So in this greatest story, I want you to read the story and find out why did Ya'kub(Jacob) alaihissalam, why was he sufferring in distressed. We know that he was suffering in distressed because Yusuf (Josep h), his beloved son alaihissalam, Bunyamin his other little son was also missing . And he was in distressed, what he says in Chapter 12 verse 86. "I only complain of my suffering and grief to Allah, and I know from Allah that which you do not know". So, from a perspective of a state of being, say we are depress sometime in life and we are really upset, or we don't know where we are going. And we have this k ind of existence crisis. Who are we? Who's are we? What are we? Why are we? All this questions we can't really answer properly. We haven't really reflect upon t hose questions properly. Because we all need reminders.So we can be in a state o f suffering and grief. So Yusuf alaihissalam, rather Ya'kub alaihissalam the fat her of Yusuf alaihissalam and Bunyamin. He said he is suffering and he is in gri ef. But look at his solution or look at what he does. And he says, "I only compl ain of my suffering and my grief to Allah". That number one. Now go to next verse, verse 87. He now advises his sons cause he had another 10 sons, to go and find out about Joseph and Bunyamin his brother. And look what Ya 'kub alaihissalam says. He says, "and despair not of the life giving mercy of Al lah for indeed the one who despair of the life giving mercy of God is the one wh o actively reject the truth". So there are some lessons here. He was teaching us how to deal with grief and distress and depression. Because Ya'kub alaihissalam , he was the one in genuine distress and grief because he love Joseph so much, h e love Bunyamin so much, and he was really really really distress. But look what he does. He says, "I complain only to Allah". So that's the first

point of callling when you distress and when you in grief. Complain to Allah. Th e second piece of advice which is quite significant is in the advice he give to his sons. And he says, "and despair not of the live giving mercy of Allah, for w hoever despair of His mercy is the one who is in active state of disbelieve, who rejects the truth". So it means the one who is in grief and distress and depress, a solution out of this grief and depression is sincerely advice others and remind others of the me rcy of Allah. Ya'kub alaihissalam was the one in distress and grief. But he advi ce his sons sincerely and he told them about Allah's mercy, His compassion, His love. So the way to get out of this grief and distress is actually to do that. A dvice others sincerely and remind them of the mercy of Allah. And it is no wonde r many of the counselors or psychotherapist, they were actually depressed and th ey got into the job just to help themselves because advicing others actually hel ps you. So keep on reflecting upon the Quran, brothers and sisters. I hope this example were a good example that would affect your lives in some way. And if you do feel a little bit distress, a bit in grief, rely on Allah, refer to Allah complain t o Allah alone. Because He is the only one who can change the situation. No.2, si ncerely advice others. No. 3, remind others sincerely of the life giving mercy o f your Lord, Allah Subhanallah Taala.